


So Trust My Navigation

by Sol1056



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Gen, Mid-Canon, Road Trips, Vignette, post-season 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-24 17:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14959223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sol1056/pseuds/Sol1056
Summary: Being a series of vignettes of the roadtrip from, well, wherever they'd ended in S6E6, and their path to Earth.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is an S6 recovery work, for @ptw30, @27kirune12, @AUTygressLuvsVoltron81, @Kismatt, and everyone else who could use some light-hearted humor right now. <3 <3 <3

1.

For the past varga, Allura has been gritting her teeth hard enough to hear them crack. Coran finally got the message and escorted Romelle into Blue's belly, giving Allura a momentary respite. She opens a private line to the Red Lion.

"I'm going to kill her," Allura announces.

"What? What? Are we being attacked?" Lance mumbles, half-asleep. "What—oh, hey, wait, who're you gonna kill?"

"Romelle." Allura spits out the name.

"Uh. Any particular reason, or just need to blow off steam?"

"Every single thing we mention, she has to tell us that's not how _Alteans_ do it. Our accent, our food, our jokes, everything. Like she's some _expert!"_

"Uhm, yeah." Lance's face appears on the forward screens. His hair's sticking up on one side, and there's imprints of the chair arm on his cheek. "Okay, that's annoying, but I'm not sure it's cause for death."

"I'm not going to kill her, I'm just going to toss her out the _airlock_ ," Allura says, grimly. "I'll let the _lack of oxygen_ in _deep space_ do the _actual killing!_ "

Lance stares for a moment, then says slowly, "I know it's a technicality, but pretty sure that still counts."

 

 

2.

Shiro rests in Black's cabin, legs stretched out, eating one of Hunk's bars with one hand. The only one he has left, really. It's disorienting to feel, touch, smell, taste. Or to need to use the facilities, or to sleep. The worst is his sense of balance is totally off. He'd not realized in all that time how much he'd gotten used to counter-balancing against the weight of the Galra arm. Even now, he's listing to the side.

Keith's been using Black's systems to help Pidge triangulate their position for bouncing a signal back at the Rebels to update everyone. Shiro knows he could've reached out to Black and done it faster and easier, but Keith is a ball of anxious energy. It's giving Keith something to do.

Shiro puts one foot flat on the floor and shoves, getting himself upright, when Keith's dog… wolf… thing... trots over to sit beside him, offering a shoulder to prop himself up. Creature? Whatever it is. Not only does it not mind Shiro—though privately he's always been a cat person, himself—the creature seems to have adopted Shiro as thoroughly as Keith once did.

"Thanks," Shiro says to the creature, finishing off the protein bar. He rests a hand in the animal's scruff, scratching gently. "Hey, Keith. What's the animal's name?"

"Wolf," Keith says, from Black's seat.

"Wolf?" Shiro looks at the creature, who looks back at him, open-mouthed, tongue lolling. "Well, I guess it is kind of wolf-looking."  

The doors slide open and Krolia steps in from Black's internal hangar. She's got the blankets she'd liberated from the castle, and wraps one around Shiro. He gives her a grin, and nods his head at Keith. Krolia's mouth flattens.

"Keith," she says. "That's enough. You need to rest."

"I'm almost done, Mom."

"You said that an hour ago."

Shiro grins and scratches Wolf a bit more. Wolf's tail thwaps against the cabin's metal structure hard enough to make it vibrate. Black huffs at Shiro, amused and happy.

"Three more doboshes," Krolia says.

"Five," Keith insists.

Shiro pulls the blanket over him as best he can, and feels himself sliding sideways. Wolf doesn't move, letting Shiro land on the creature. Shiro gets himself comfortable, surprised when Wolf curls around him. Even better than a blanket, warmer, and much fluffier.

Now if only he could get Keith and Krolia to stop debating how much longer Keith can stare at the diagrams with bleary eyes. Shiro sighs and opens his mind to Black, merging easily back into the place he'd been for so long. There, his body is whole again, and all of Black's awareness is at his command. With a sweep of his hand, he brings up Black's central command systems, flicking at screens to find the ones Keith wants. Shiro arranges them, runs the calculations, and sends them to Black.

"Oh!" Keith says, from the seat. "See, done, Mom."

"Okay, rest, now," Krolia urges Keith to get up.

"Let me just send to Pidge. That's strange." Keith taps something.

Pidge's tired greeting is too quiet for Shiro to hear.

"I didn't even see that route," Keith says. "I guess Black's automation is even better than I realized."

"It's a giant mystical mechanical cat, it's going to be full of surprises," Krolia says. "Now, Keith."

"Right, Mom." Keith gets up, coming to kneel by Shiro. "Hey, babe, I'm done here. Let's head into the back. It'll be more comfortable, there."

Shiro smiles and accepts the help up.

 

 

3.

Pidge stares at Lance on the forward screens, bored enough to consider the idea, but not road-weary enough to have the crazy to do it.

"I'm kinda seeing double," she tells Lance. "What if I miss Blue and hit Yellow, instead? Hunk will not be happy." 

"First of all, he won't even notice," Lance says. "And if he does, he'll just figure out a way to harvest it all, anyway. But Kalternecker's eaten everything, and she's hungry! She supplied you with all that good milk for milkshakes, y'know."

"You don't even know she'd find Green's vines edible," Pidge complains. 

"Well, it's worth a shot." Lance checks his system. "Red says it'll be another varga before we get to the next system with enough water to produce anything close to the plant life we need." 

"You're going to end up with an internal hangar full of plant material," Pidge warns. "You'd better get Kalternecker out of there, first." 

"Yep, she's been waiting in the interlock section," Lance declares. Something bangs in the background, and Lance jumps. "Come on, Pidge, three-hundred-pound cow is about to take out Red's doors, and Keith'll kill me." 

"Might be worth it," Pidge says, under her breath. "Alright, Green, let's do this." 

Green purrs and brights up the cannon. Pidge brings Green around, pointing at Red, who rolls to the side to expose the open hatch to the internal hangar. Pidge squints, rubs her eyes, and fires. She gets a glimpse of vines sprouting, then Red's hatch doors slam shut. It's got to be sleep deprivation that gives Pidge the strong sense that Green is actually... giggling. 

Over the comm, Lance screams. Once, twice, then a series of shouts, desperate. 

Pidge considers saying something. But then Krolia comes on the comms, calling to Lance, followed by Coran. Probably a good time to take Matt's advice about discretion being the better part of valor. 

"Autopilot, girl," she tells Green. "Matt will be up to take over in a few minutes." 

 


	2. Chapter 2

4.

Hunk finishes the schematic he's proposing, and sits back. "What do you think, buddy?"

Yellow rumbles quietly, not exactly thrilled about locking onto the other lions.

"Aw, come on, it'll save energy," Hunk says. "And then we only need one person at a time to keep an eye on navigation."

He opens a line to the other five lions. Krolia's taken Black, Keith's in Red giving Lance a chance to rest, Pidge is back in Green and looking less hangdog. Coran's positively beaming in Blue, while Romelle appears to be sulking behind him.

"Okay, Krolia," Hunk says. "Easiest way to do this is to slow Black down about half-speed, then we'll start with Green, then Red."

"Half-speed, roger," Krolia says.

"Coming alongside you." Pidge steers Green onto her side. "Catching Black's claws in three, two... " A loud thunk sounds, and Pidge's image jolts. "Well, that was fast."

"Alright, Red," Hunk says, keeping an eye from behind on the connection.

Red slides in easily, at twice the speed Green had moved. Hunk sighs. No one's ever going to top what Keith can do with Red. At least Lance is sleeping through this, so Hunk doesn't have to listen to the griping the rest of the way to Earth.

One by one the lions come together, forming an uneven five-pointed star. At Hunk's command, the lions curl up, compacting the star.

"Alright," Pidge exclaims. "It actually worked!"

"Hey, now," Hunk says, without too much heat, and uncrosses his fingers. "Of course it did."

Shiro's voice comes through the comms, despite the fact that he's not in a pilot's seat. "There's one more thing," he says.

Hunk readies himself for the instructions, startled when Yellow gets them, instead. Hunk's not sure he'll ever quite wrap his head around the fact that Black is Shiro, and Shiro is Black. They're separate and yet of one mind, without being one identity. It feels like the kind of philosophical discussion best left for Coran.

Chutes extend from Black's core, like docking stations. Red and Green extend the same, locking on. Then each extend, and Hunk gets up from his seat to dash into the interlock. He giggles, delighted, as the section extends on each side, unfolding a piece at a time, to lock with the next.

The parts clang against each other. Yellow shudders faintly as the shafts lock into place, and their doors open. Hunk looks one way, then the other. Blue seems like a safer bet.

"Hey, Coran," Hunk announces. "Feeling like a walk. How're you for visitors?"

"Are you bringing snacks?" Coran asks.

 

 

 

5.

Pidge tucks her pillow under one arm, her laptop under the other, and throws her blanket over her shoulder. Wolf meets her at Black's gangway, trotting alongside her as she passes Black's massive interlock and continues towards Red.

What she doesn't expect is to find Keith and Shiro sitting in Red's internal hangar, watching Kalternecker chew placidly through the vines. Which, oddly, seem to be continuing to grow despite not actually being attached to anything. Or getting water. Or sunlight. Or… whatever else plants need.

The blue space wolf is sitting next to Keith, and it's actually a half-head taller than him, when they're both sitting. Pidge blinks. Wasn't the wolf a little smaller when they left?

"Hey," Pidge says, startling them from their conversation. "Sorry, I thought Lance would be here."

"He's visiting Blue," Keith says. "You're welcome to sit, if you want."

Wolf yaps—not the full-throated bark Pidge would've expected at that size—and runs through the vines, skidding back to slam into Keith. The force knocks Keith backwards, and Shiro laughs.

The sound doesn't echo in the vast space, cushioned by the vines, and somehow that makes it feel even more real. Pidge sniffles, trying to keep her self-control. Her vision blurs, and she blinks hard.

"Sorry," she says, trying to sound cheerful. "It's just been so long since I've heard... " And it wasn't even really Shiro. And now it is.

The laptop falls from her hand and lands on a pile of writhing vines. The pillow slides from under her other arm and she stumbles forward blindly, sobbing.

"Come're," Shiro says, arm stretched out, a smile on his face.

Pidge bawls, trips over her feet and falls to her knees. She throws her arms around Shiro's chest and sobs openly. Shiro's arm wraps around her, and a second later, another hand lands on her head, patting her sweetly.

"It's okay, Katie," Shiro says. "Everything's gonna be okay, now."

 

 

 

6.

Matt doesn't mind Romelle. Mostly. She's cute, she seems to mean well, and she's easy to talk to. It's just… she's so helpless.

"Oh," she says, hand fluttering over the jar in her other hand. "I can't get it open."

The hint is obvious. Matt accepts the jar, twists once, and hands cap and full jar back to her. He's not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed that she doesn't gush over his strength, what there is of it. Her helplessness isn't designed to make him feel better. She's just… helpless.

It's better than the alternative, though.

"Eww," Romelle says, sniffing the jar's contents. "This is ripvok!" She slams the cap back on, and remarkably twists it pretty damn tight.

"What about it?" Matt knows he's poking the bear. It's a Blade favorite, and one Hunk had made so Keith and Krolia would feel welcomed. "It's spicy, but it's good."

"This is a Galra dish," Romelle says. "Those—"

"Stop." Matt gets up from Green's chair in an instant, snatching the jar from Romelle's hand before she can smash it against the bulkhead. "First of all, it's edible food, and we need that. Second, Hunk made it with love for someone who matters to us."

"You can't trust the Galra." Romelle pouts.    

"And _you_ need a timeout," Matt declares.

He never had to go through this with Pidge. Although there had been a stage where her determination to follow him around all the time had gotten annoying. Pidge's thing had been an insistence she could do everything herself, not that she couldn't do anything. He's given up trying to figure out which is actually worse.

"I do not." Romelle crosses her arms, and yeah. Definitely a pout. "You're being so mean."

"Okay, fine, I need a timeout, and this is my shift for navigation, that means you go elsewhere." Matt hits the button, sliding the doors open the interlock and the connecting passageways. "Go peel some potatoes. Hunk will be happy to have your help."

Hunk will probably also strangle Matt for it, but that'll have to wait until after dinner.


	3. Chapter 3

7.

Lance checks Red's scan, sitting up in excitement. He'd heard about this from the rebels. Without taking his eyes off the little moon that's currently just a pinprick in Red's forward screens, Lance opens the comms throughout the lions.

"Hey!" Lance yells. "Anyone awake?"

Pidge responds first with an annoyed groan. "I _was_ ," she snarls. "Whaddaya want?"

"I'm awake," Romelle says.

"What?" Keith sounds like he bolted right up out of a sound sleep. "Something happen?"

"Well, nothing yet," Lance says, cheerful. "But there's a moon up ahead made of string."

"I'm sorry, I thought I heard you say string," Hunk says.

"Right! Some kind of space string," Lance says. "Basically it's the universe's largest ball of twine."

"No." Keith sounds half-asleep, and not interested in waking further. "We need to keep moving."

"We could do a flyby?" Lance asks. "Enough to get pictures. Just to prove we were here!"

There's a rumble from Red, distanced. Red's not talking to Lance, but to someone else. Lance looks up, around, even checks behind him.

"What's going on?" Allura comes on the line. "What did I miss?"

"A giant ball of string," Lance says. "Moon-sized!"

"Oh..." Allura's voice is excited. "Coran, you should go lay down, let me take over Blue for a bit."

"What? What?" Coran snuffles, then groans loudly as several popping noises echo through Red's cabin from the comms. "My poor aching back."

"Yes, yes," A moment later Allura comes onscreen, eyes bright. "Where is it? Is it in range?"

"Don't," Keith breaks in. "Black doesn't want to do this."

"Because Black doesn't want to, or because you can't handle that I found a roadside attraction?"

"It's not an issue of handling," Keith starts.

Coran breaks in, abruptly wide awake. "Is that a… No! That's a _kratapoka_!" His words end in a shriek high enough to make Lance clap hands over his ears.

"That's not possible," Allura says.

"A what?" Lance asks. "Crack-a-what? Is that good or bad?"

"Oh, it's bad, it's _very_ bad," Coran moans. "Get us _out_ of here!"

"Does this mean we're not going to see a moon of string?" Romelle asks. "Should I get back in my pajamas?"

"And hide under the bed while you're at it," Coran wails. "Full reverse thrusters! Now!"

Lance rolls his eyes, but there's not much room to argue with Coran. The man's a walking encyclopedia of knowledge on things better left alone. Poor Hunk still has nightmares about that weblum monster, sometimes.

"Fine, fine," Lance mutters, and adjusts Red's bearing. Slowly the joined lions shift, angling away from the little moon. "Bye-bye, universe's largest ball of…"

Something shifts on the forward screens, a strange flicker.

Lance squints at it, and taps Red's controls, zooming in.

"Hey, guys," he calls, "I think there's something—"

Whatever it is, it's coming closer, and it's moving fast. It's also pretty small across… and there's more than one of them. Ten, twenty… Lance loses track.

"Okay, we might have a problem," Lance mutters.

"Hunk!" Keith yells, now clearly full awake. "Give me full power! We're turning, now!"

"Full power, you got it," Hunk says.

"Blue, reverse thrusters," Shiro orders. "Half-power. Bring us around."

Lance hasn't moved, staring at the threads reaching across the vast distances. "Guys… how far can that stuff reach?"

"Too far!" Coran shrieks.

"Keep it down," Matt cuts in, yawning. "Some of us are holy _crap_ what the _hell_  why are we within a million miles of a _kratapoka_? Whose _genius_ idea—"

"Everyone!" Shiro shouts. "Full power, in two. On my count, one, _two_!"

Lance slams his sticks forward without looking. Black will steer them. The string's reaching out for them, as the connected lions angle away. The combined forces of the thrusters—plus a boost from Black—and they're leaving the string far behind. Lance collapses back into Red's seat, one hand to his chest until his heart rate gets back under control.

In the sudden silence, Romelle pipes up. "Are we there yet?"  

Lance groans and shuts off the comms.

 

 

 

8.

Krolia steps through Black's doors into the internal hangar. It's large enough for one of the castle's smaller shuttles, parked at the far end beside the floor-hatch. Black's interior lights are low, just enough glow to see the two shapes sleeping alongside the hangar walls, wrapped in blankets.

Well, not sleeping. Shiro's sleeping; he's getting better but he still gets exhausted easily. Keith's the one not sleeping.

Krolia sighs and crosses the open space on silent feet to kneel beside Keith. He's propped up on one arm, watching Shiro.

"Keith," Krolia says, putting a hand on Keith's shoulder. "You need to sleep."

"I'm fine." Keith lays down at her gentle shove. "I'm not tired."

"I gave you eight varga off, to rest. You should be using it."

A quick blue flash announces Wolf's arrival; the creature had been in Black's cabin, keeping Krolia company. Now it sidles up to lay between Shiro and the wall, making itself comfortable, wrapped around Shiro. Krolia sits back on her heels, considering.

She sets one hand between Keith's shoulder blades, and the other at the small of his back. Keith has no time to protest. Krolia digs in her toes and shoves Keith across the open space.

He comes to a halt, right up against Shiro. Krolia leans over Keith, taking his arm and stretching it across Shiro's chest.

"There," she whispers. "You can feel him breathing, now. If he moves, you'll know." She sweeps Keith's hair out of the way, and kisses him on the temple. "Sleep."

She stands, and Wolf raises its head, curious.

"You're good right there," Krolia says, smiling. "Keep an eye on them for me."

 

 

 

9.

Romelle watches over Matt's shoulder as Blue disengages, pulling away from the rest to head down to the little blue planet. She's still annoyed she couldn't go with them, just to see land and water and sunlight. She's had about all she can take of being in space. 

It's endless black outside the lions' windows, the food is boring, and everything in space wants to kill them. The string planet. Then some massive thing with laser beam eyeballs that would've taken out all five lions at once had Hunk not acted fast, single-handedly turning the lion-ship to get them out of the way. Then there were the five-legged, three-eyed, skeleton creatures that swarmed the lions, sucking down their energy. The lions had been reduced to using their tails as fly-swatters—if not just firing on the creatures and trying not to hit themselves. It'd taken at least six varga of rough flying before they'd escaped that flock of monsters.

"Is this really safe?" Romelle scratches her scalp with one finger, knowing if she does more, she'll just scratch herself into a frenzy. Her head itches, her feet are gross, and there's nothing she can do about the days of sweat making her clothes stiff and her own scent rather pungent.

On the other hand, everyone being equally bad off means she's not alone in her misery.

"Scans are clear, Coran says it's fine, and the probe returned usable drinking water," Matt says, with half his attention. "Now we just find out if Hunk's contraptions hold."

"I heard that," Hunk says, glaring from his image on Green's screen. "They'll hold! Totally."

"Why does he do that?" Romelle points, curious. "He does this thing with his fingers everytime he says totally."

"Busted," Lance bends over the back of Allura's seat, in Blue, to point at Hunk's image. "We end up getting swallowed by sea monsters, I'll come back as—"

Allura elbows Lance sharply, who stumbles out of the frame with a yelp.

Romelle winces. Some topics—even as jokes—are clearly off-limits, and Lance seems to be the only one who forgets and cracks them, anyway.

"Can I listen to the earth music, some more?" Romelle asks.

Getting her toes tapping on the floor and her palms thumping at her thighs might be the only way to distract herself from the desperate need to scrub off at least ten layers of dirt and sweat. She wants a bath—not just a quick wipe-down with a wet cloth—and clean clothes. Music's the only thing left to take her mind off the obsession, even strange music like Earth's where nothing is in a decent time signature and they only have eight notes in an octave.  

"Sure, take these," Matt says, pulling off his headphones. He taps the controls, and waves over his shoulder. "It's all set up on the side console for you."

Romelle adjusts the headphones, tilting the ear-covers to be at a diagonal. Human ears are so odd, almost ugly. She said as much to Allura once, and it's the only time they've really laughed together.

She settles down, cross-legged with her back to the console, letting the music play. It skips randomly through Pidge's collection, now uploaded to all the lions. All the music is odd, but every human on the lion-ship seems to have their favorites. Headphones mean she doesn't annoy anyone else, despite how the things cramp her ears.

Six songs have come and gone, when something pops Romelle on the head. Pidge stands over her, mouth moving, drowned out by the sound in Romelle's ears. She pulls off the headphones, wincing at way her ears are now hot and achey.

"Blue is back," Pidge says. "We flipped a coin. You, me, Allura, and Krolia have first go at washing."

Romelle is up in a flash, tossing the headphones to Matt, who squawks and catches them. At the last second, Romelle spins on her heel, running backwards as Pidge catches up with her.

"I'll scrub your back," Romelle offers.

Pidge looks momentarily surprised, then she grins. "Thanks, and ditto."

"Ditto?" Romelle tears through Yellow's interlock cabin, waving to Hunk. "What body part is ditto?"

"It means same." Pidge outpaces Romelle, an inch taller, and in better shape. "I'll scrub your back, too."

"Oh." Romelle nods. It's a peace offering, then. "I like your music."

"Maybe we should set up a comms program to play music, like the radio," Pidge says. "A good roadtrip should have tunes."

Romelle smiles. Maybe space isn't all bad.


End file.
